First-Year Classified Staff Nominees

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Scott has learned everything he needs to learn in such a short period of time it's staggering.  In addition, to quickly understanding the requirements and the intricacies of his new job, Scott quickly took it upon himself to ask for more responsibilities, to offer to do things around the office and generally to learn more.  He has made the process of training three new Preservation employees exceedingly easy.  When I've been called out of the office to attend on some matter, I've never hesitated to leave a trainee in Scott's care, knowing full well that they will be told exactly what they need to do.  In addition, because Preservation and Collection Development have become such unusual offices to work in over the last several months, it has been very nice indeed to have someone in the office that can quickly understand and adapt to a changing work environment (and when we do deal with the fire stuff the environment literally changes every single day).  

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Scott has made this department an easier place to work.  I always know that I can leave stuff in his hands and the work will get done, and get done correctly and in a timely manner.  Even at points where I have been busy with either fire-related concerns or other obligations, Scott keeps the workflow of the department at the same level.  I'm never afraid to leave things in his hands and I know that as long as he's in the department things will continue in the manner they need to.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Scott has taken it upon himself to help train the new students and the other new employees if that need arose.  He has also given himself projects to do, generally improving the nature of the work environment.  Scott is also creative, coming up with ways to improve workflow and improve upon procedures done within the department. 

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Scott, like the other new Collection Development employees, will be going back to school this fall to get a masters degree in social work, while continuing to work in the department.  He has gone so far as to draft up times when he can make up work missed and taken steps to ensure that he continues to be an invaluable asset to this department even after he goes back to school.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Shannon Bennett began in her position in August 2003.  She was hired as the Administrative Specialist for the SLC.  AS such she is responsible for providing high-level administrative and logistical support to facilitate the work of all facets of the building program.  This includes but is not limited to facilitation with Physical Plant concerning facilities operations, coordination of supplies and equipment procurement, coordination of building events, participation in building tours, preparation and distribution of payroll, and coordination of special projects as they arise.

A new position, a new building, new duties, different colleagues and no time to prepare or plan.  That aptly describes the first nine months of Shannon's employment.  She has handled it all with aplomb, competence, excellent interpersonal skills, and a lot of hard work.

Shannon has so many strengths it is difficult to choose only a few to highlight.  She has a keen attention to detail, an ability to juggle a seemingly endless list of tasks, an ability to see the big picture, outstanding people skills, and keen judgment. She handles her responsibilities independently but keeps her colleagues appropriately informed on the results she is achieving or any problems she is encountering.  She displays exceptional independence of action and good judgment; her colleagues trust her implicitly. 

In addition to handling all the many facets of her position so competently, she has also made time to build the necessary excellent working relationships outside the SLC most especially with our Custodial Colleagues, OISD, Auxiliary Services and many, many people in Physical Plant. Her fine abilities in this area cannot be expressed too strongly.

Besides the myriad of regular duties that Shannon handles, much of her work is other duties as assigned. It is necessary to react and respond to requests, facilities issues, events questions and many other emergencies that crop up unannounced -  every day.  Shannon is always available to help, answer, solve, and deal with all of these issues.   She does this calmly and patiently never showing frustration or annoyance.

Shannon has a very special communication gift.  She LISTENS.   She knows how to negotiate people's issues by asking questions and filling in gaps in their knowledge.  Coupled with a soft-spoken, gentle interaction style and a sense of humor, people gravitate toward her and obviously respect her.  She has excellent working relationships with all levels of staff, students and student groups and off-campus users.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

This has been a year of discovery, a year of ideas, of year of let's try it, a year of what if at the SLC.  Each and every time we stick our toe in the water of the unknown, Shannon is there to make the plan work.  She has provided much of the glue that has kept us all together throughout this year. 

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Shannon has provided special leadership in two areas.  1)  Facilities maintenance and, 2) Events management.

1) Facilities maintenance.  Especially through the first semester, management of the various maintenance issues required great organizational skill, patience and perseverance.  The contractor still being on-site provided another layer of red-tape and confusion.  Shannon's organizational abilities were extraordinary.  Her ability to develop excellent working relationships helped ensure that we were able to get things completed as we wanted.  Shannon has taken great care to develop excellent working relationship with the Building Supervisor, the Skilled Trades Worker and all of the Custodial Staff.
Shannon has an ability to find creative ways to solve our facilities issues.  She is able to maintain her enthusiasm and broad way of looking at things which has helped us discover new ways to deal with these issues as they arise.  Most of all, she is prepared to make decisions quickly when needed and to defer for input when appropriate.  She is a real leader in this area.

2)  Events management. Because of her background in Campus Reservations, Shannon has been invaluable in planning and executing events in the building.  This area has been much busier and more time-consuming than we expected and it has required focus and attention as well as a great deal of physical labor in setting up spaces, ensuring groups follow procedures, extending building hours, and managing accounts.

If you have Shannon Bennett on your side, you start out at great advantage.  The Libraries is lucky to have her as part of the SLC administrative team.  Her potential for future success with the Libraries is boundless.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

If you have Shannon Bennett on your side, you start out at great advantage.  The Libraries is lucky to have her as part of the SLC administrative team.  Her potential for future success with the Libraries is boundless.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Deb's first year in Government Documents Processing could best be described as a trial by fire. In addition to mastering her normal duties and maintaining excellent levels of productivity and accuracy, she has played a key role in fire recovery efforts.  Deb worked as part of triage teams on 2nd floor assessing the condition/fate of the fire victims, created a template and then prepared hundreds of binding slips, and created a large part of the insurance documentation (GIL printouts or shelflist photocopies) for U.S. documents destroyed in the fire.  In addition, she made twice-weekly trips to the Robo from October 2003 through May 2004 to work on reprocessing the 12,000+ volumes sent for rebinding.

And in her spare time... Deb updated the Government Documents web page, completed vast amounts of retrospective GIL clean-up work on individual laws and on House/Senate documents/reports, and completely rewrote binding procedures for the department.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Deb's ability to carry on her regular duties in outstanding fashion, while adding on a wide variety of additional work resulting from the fire, has been crucial in our ability to fulfill our mission.  We have continued to process current material and make it available to patrons.  At the same time, we have been able to work through the many different stages of fire recovery.  Without her extraordinary efforts, we would have been at a loss to accomplish what needed to be done and to move ahead.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Deb has done an excellent job assessing different situations, setting priorities, consulting with appropriate people as needed, and then carrying out her myriad tasks and added responsibilities.  Her calm and professional manner through this very stressful time has provided an excellent model for others.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Devin started this position taking what came to him to in stride.  The department has been, to put it nicely, constantly changing over the past couple of years.  Devin, at present, has to work in four different location, doing four different kinds of work: he helps here in preservation, does his "regular" duties in collection development, pitches in at the Curriculum Materials Center at Aderhold, and works in the bibliographer's office on the third florr with gift books.  Just juggling all of this on a job that he is still quite new at is accomplishment enough.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Devin pitches in with everyone else in order to keep the department going.  Prior to his being hired, our department lost several faculty members as well as the entire office staff.  Devin has helped add the stability back into the department.  In Preservation, he has helped with the fire recovery project as well as doing what is expected from him in his regular job.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Devin displays not so much leadership as independence.  He carries out whatever work needs to be done in the department without being told what to do.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Devin is planning on going back to school in the fall, but will continue to work at the library while he finishes his undergraduate degree.  He's quite efficient and ambitious to both finish school and work full time, all at the age of 22.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

How about re-vamping the entire Media Department front desk? You will not physically see a difference but the changes that have been made are tremendous and invisible to the eye.
1) Providing positive and informed leadership for the student assistants she supervises.
2) Streamlining the ordering of all media purchased for the department.
3) Excellent communication with all faculty members who use the media department services. Many a thank you note has been received from these grateful educators.
4) Managing the inputting of the media department holdings into an Ultimate database.
5) Helping to obtain and organize an important Latin video collection donated by a UGA professor.
6) Working well with the cataloging department on the VHS backlog.
7) Maintaining the Media Department website and keeping it updated on a regular basis.
There is probably more I'm surely missing.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Meg has made finding and ordering media and using the materials from the department a much more efficient and pleasant experience. What could be better than that in terms of the mission of the library and the department?

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

She was able to transition from student assistant to a supervisor of student assistants with ease. She is professional, problem solves well, and is willing to take on tasks and find solutions without being asked. Her ability to take charge and get things done has been a tremendous asset to the Media department. Plus she's fun to work with!

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Meg is a hardworking employee and a full-time graduate student. This is a woman with time-management skills! When she broke her foot and had to have surgery she managed to be back to the department within a week. Meg is someone I can ALWAYS count on and I never have to worry about whether she has followed through on something. She has.

(Excerpts from Nomination)

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Meg has overhauled the public service aspect of the Media department. Meg has completely revised desk procedures, patron relations, and student assistant tasks, providing competent leadership to the Media Department as it seeks to better serve its patrons. 

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Meg has taken the initiative to work with other departments to better accomplish the Libraries' goals.  When the duties of Media intersect with other departments, Meg is willing to meet with those departments and learn how they do things, in order that the transfer of materials will be as smooth as possible.  Whether Media materials are being checked out through Circulation or being rushed through cataloging, Meg is always willing to meet with other staff members and find out how we can all do it better.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Meg has shown great skill in effectively working with and supervising her student assistants.  Also, in Media's constant dealings with our homeless patrons, Meg sets an example of how we can fulfill the library's mission to serve both students and local residents alike.  During the fire recovery efforts, when Media experienced confusion due to the cleaning processes of the disaster recovery service, Meg personally supervised the cleaning and reorganization of the Media department, working side by side with the temporary disaster recovery workers.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Meg is incredibly funny and good-natured, and creates a pleasant atmosphere in Media. She's a snazzy dresser, and her clothes are always color co-ordinated ::snaps!::. This form was filled out by two gay men, in case you couldn't tell. And we think Meg is FAH-BU-LUZ...

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Katherine mastered the everyday workings of the serial department in record time.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Katherine is simply one of the brightest, most cheerful colleagues I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She came into the department with a willingness to learn and has progressed rapidly in learning the ins and outs of Serials. Her ability to buckle down and get the job done sets an example for us all to follow. Well done, Katherine!

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

She communicates her needs to her coworkers clearly and concisely. In return she listens to our needs and pitches in whenever help is needed.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Not long after Ian started working in interlibrary loan, we had the fire on the second floor.  When we came back to work, we were displaced from our office and had to set up shop in the basement of the Main Library.  Despite the disruption, the odd circumstance, the huge backlog of work, and the increase in workload because of the need to obtain materials made inaccessible by the fire, nothing seemed to phase Ian.  He was consistently flexible, good natured, hard working, uncomplaining, and willing to help in any way.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Because of the recent budget problems, it took a while for Ian's position to be approved and posted.  However, once Ian was hired he learned his responsibilities very fast and was able to work independently in a short amount of time.  This greatly helped to ease the pain of having to go so long without his position.  I am always grateful to have someone so dependable, so reliable and so good at their job.  It makes my job (and everyone in the department's job) much more enjoyable and less stressful.         

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Ian has all the qualities one wants in an employee.  He's smart, has excellent public service skills, gets along with everyone, is good with detail, has good judgment, and does an all around great job.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Emily has shown an exceptional ability to adapt to different work circumstances with the greatest of ease.  She, even more than the other new Preservation employees, has two very different jobs.  She works half-time with Kevin Kelley in the public service portion of the Music Library and then works half-time in the Preservation department repairing books and dealing with fire-damaged materials. 

Every day Emily travels back and forth from the music building and the main library in order to fulfill her responsibilities, often making her stay later than five.  She does both jobs very well, even going an extra step in the Preservation Department by reorganizing the physical layout of the department, increasing and improving workflow.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

Emily helps keep Preservation afloat.  She maintains the desk and the public face of the Music Library and then seamlessly steps behind the scenes and does very well with the Preservation part of her job.  She helps the public both at the desk and behind it.  In other words, she adapts whenever she has to do so into whatever she is required to do.  Emily is also an eager learner and constantly asks about the preservation procedures and strategies.  She is an independent worker and handles things on her own, always correctly and always efficiently. 

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

Emily has helped to train the new Preservation student assistants, something not in her job description.  She also has helped supervise the assistants, helping to answer their questions when no other staff member has been available to do so.  She has organized her own schedule, ensuring that she does not slight either part of her job, even with the travel time her day requires.  She has also taken it upon herself to come up with a project for herself and the student assistants that involved reorganizing the preservation office, basically improving the work environment of everyone that works in Preservation.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Emily plans on going to Library school this upcoming Fall or Spring, doing the distance education program, while continuing to work.  She plans on studying Preservation work and her enthusiasm for her job really shows as a result.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Carrie became an LAIII in Serials Cataloging in March 2003. I consider it a major accomplishment that she has learned her job so well. Her position once entailed two major duties: copy cataloging of serials and sending superseded serial volumes to their next destination. It has evolved, however, into a position of much more varied duties and projects. In addition to her core duties, Carrie does a little bit of a lot of things.
Some people might find it frustrating to learn such a job. Not Carrie. In fact she is very good at being able to apply some skill or piece of knowledge that she gained in learning one task to the completion of another.

A specific major accomplishment is her work on inputting serial and periodical holdings for titles held at Coastal Plain. She input holdings on many records, and passed the ones she could not do on to the Holdings Associate. The MARC format for holdings is not an easy format to learn even when you are inputting straightforward holdings. In addition, working from lists is difficult, as the information is not always as complete or detailed as we need it.

Another project Carrie is working on has to do with accompanying media. Since the policy has changed and we now keep discs with the material they accompany, some clean-up is necessary. Carrie is working on reuniting discs with their accompanying serial volume and reflecting the change in GIL. This may seem like a small thing, but it is a detail that would be important to someone who wanted to both look at the print and use the disc.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

The work Carrie does helps to keep information in GIL regarding serial volumes and where to find them as accurate as possible. I think this is important to the way the Libraries' carry out its mission, as it helps patrons put their hands on things they need. In the case of Coastal Plain, patrons there can see in GIL what holdings for serial titles are and not have to consult a separate list.

Carrie's work also has a positive effect on Serials Cataloging. All new print serial titles start with her. She searches them, catalogs what she can, and routes ones she cannot do on to someone else. Most importantly, though, Carrie is a joy to work with. Her good nature is much appreciated by her co-workers.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

I see leadership in Carrie's ability to communicate with people. Serials Cataloging often gets questions from other areas of the library (What do we do with this 1999 volume of xyz?) Carrie is unfailingly polite and gracious. She really listens to people--another leadership skill--and does her best to complete a project or solve a project.

What, in your opinion, are the outstanding accomplishments of the nominee in the past year?

Ben's technical competence, understanding of the Libraries mission and problem-solving ability makes him an exceptional rookie member of the exceptional photographic services crew of the Digital Library.

How has the work of the nominee affected the way the Libraries' carry out its mission? Your department?

To avoid risk to original documents, it is frequently necessary for exacting copies to be made for exhibits and customers.  In other cases, precise scans must be made to preserve images on deteriorating media.  Often the size or condition of these items makes reproduction of these materials extremely difficult. 

Ben tackles difficult imaging jobs promptly and with imagination.  After shooting an image he takes great pains to balance color and resolution to create as accurate reproduction as possible.  Sometimes we must beg him to stop tweaking because his copy is better than the original, but his instinctive dedication is to exacting replication, no matter how awkward or fragile the item is.  This reflects both a dedication to and awareness of both his art and the Libraries' mission to preserve and educate.

What leadership skills has this person demonstrated in the past year?

I can't address what would generally be considered "leadership skills", but do know that I can take a problem to Ben and he will analyze the problem and suggest the best solution - this being the sort of leadership I am looking for in precision replication situations.

What else do you think the ASSET Awards Committee should know about your nominee?

Ben appreciates Josiah Meigs, certainly an esoteric achievement that marks him as an exceptional first-year employee (although the knowledge is freely available for all to attain, grasshoppers).